Can You Tell
by It'sfinebyme
Summary: Tom finds out that Nicki has neglected to mention to him that it's her birthday. Tom/Nicki cuteness ensues.
1. Chapter 1

I'm absolutely obsessed with the Tom and Nicki pairing at the moment so I, naturally, found myself writing about them. Thank you to HedgieX for reading this over and reassuring me that it was worthy of posting :)

The song 'Can You Tell' by Ra Ra Riot inspired the title. It's a perfect Tom and Nicki song.

* * *

Tom sighed loudly as he walked down the corridor; he'd had an exhausting day. The majority of it had been spent dealing with the gang chaos that was plaguing the school and trying to convince Rhona and Shona that, whilst he admired their interest in current affairs, staging a protest in support of Kony 2012 wasn't a good idea. He didn't think Michael would appreciate the school being defaced with posters and stickers, and he had a feeling that the cleanup operation, should such a defacing occur, would somehow end up being his responsibility.

The last thing he wanted to do was engage in a gossip filled conversation with Janeece who, unfortunately for him, was making a beeline for him as he headed towards the playground. He could see the look of excitement on her face as she approached him, and he quickened his pace. Apparently not quickly enough, though, as she fell into step with him.

"So, I saw you and Miss Boston in Sainsbury's on Saturday." Janeece began.

Tom rolled his eyes. It was just his luck that Waterloo Road's biggest gossip happened to have been in the same supermarket at the same time as them.

"Is there something going on between you two?" She asked curiously, and with a tone of excitement that suggested it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference whether he confirmed or denied her accusations; he and Nicki were still going to be the talk of the school.

Honestly, not even he was sure what was going on between them. All he knew was that she had been so supportive over the past few weeks, helping him with Josh, and they'd been spending an increasing amount of time together, hence the weekend supermarket trip. Not that he was complaining; he really enjoyed spending time with her.

Mistaking his silence for confirmation that something was in fact going on between the two teachers Janeece began to screech. "I knew it, I knew it!"

Despite him shaking his head and attempting to deny any romantic involvement with his colleague, she continued, not allowing him to get a word in edgeways.

"So, are you doing anything nice for her birthday tonight? I bet you've got something really romantic planned…"

He came to an abrupt halt and spun round to face Janeece, who now had a puzzled look on her face.

"It's her birthday today?"

She nodded in confirmation.

"Why didn't she say anything?" He wondered aloud, more to himself than his nosey companion.

"Michael has every member of staffs birthday marked on his calendar." She offered by way of an explanation for her knowing.

Once Tom had escaped the over excited secretary and reached the safety of his car, he pulled out his phone, composing a text to Josh. He was relieved when his son replied a few minutes later, ensuring him that he was feeling a lot better today, and in agreement that Nicki deserved someone making an effort to do something special for her birthday. He promised he'd be fine if his Dad wasn't home straight away.

After a quick trip to the nearest supermarket to purchase all things party related, Tom found himself standing outside Nicki's house. His palms were suddenly sweaty and he internally scolded himself for feeling so nervous. Forcing himself to stop being so ridiculous he raised his hand and knocked on the door.

"Tom, hi." She greeted him, a puzzled smile gracing her features, as she opened the door. She had changed out of the formal trousers and blazer she had been wearing at school that day into pyjamas; Tom thought, that seeing her standing there in her fleecy attire and slippers with pom poms on, was one of the most adorable things he had ever seen.

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday today?" He questioned, crossing the threshold into her house.

"It didn't seem important, not with everything going on with Josh," She ducked her head, "I didn't want you to feel obligated to do something…" She trailed off at his incredulous look.

"Of course it's important!" His tone insistent, "We're friends, right?"

She nodded in agreement.

"Well, friends celebrate each other's birthdays."

She nodded again, a grin on her face. It felt good, having someone wanting to do something nice for her, because they wanted to; because they thought she deserved it.

Whilst she had been pondering this feeling Tom had found her living room and made himself comfortable on the floor by her  
coffee table. She laughed as she walked in and was greeted by the sight of him, grinning goofily, a cardboard party hat sat crookedly on his head.

"I don't know why you're laughing." He smiled as she sat down.

Standing up he placed a hat, the same as his, on her head. Her breathe caught in her throat and she shivered as his fingers brushed her neck whilst placing the elastic underneath her chin. Sitting back down, smiling at her, his attention turned to the carrier bag next to him.

"I bought party food." After a lot of rustling around, he began pulling out the bag's contents one by one, a variety of cakes and biscuits soon adorning the coffee table.

Halfway through the evening they had moved from the floor onto the sofa and now sat, wrapped in blankets, watching Tom's film of choice. Despite him insisting that he had chosen a romantic comedy because he thought she would like it and protesting halfheartedly about watching it, it had become clear to Nicki that he was enjoying it. His eyes hadn't left the screen for the past hour as he had become engrossed in the storyline. She, on the other hand, had no idea what had been happening on screen. Tom's fingers tickling her skin as he stroked his hand along her arm had proven to be too much of a distraction for her to be able to concentrate on anything else. The way his arm had wound its way around her shoulder and her legs had ended up over his, so she was almost sitting on his lap, wasn't helping either. Her heart beat fast; being in such a close proximity to him was making her flustered.

Despite her trying to resist the tiredness that was threatening to overcome her body, she couldn't help but yawn. Tom tore his eyes away from the television and looked into hers, holding eye contact for a long moment, before she blushed and hid her face with her blanket. He laughed at her, tugging the blanket away and stroking a stray piece of hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear.

"I should be getting back. Josh will be wondering where I've got."

She felt a twinge of guilt. It was selfish of her to be taking up Tom's time, time that he should be spending with his son.

"You've been great, supporting Josh and I these past few months. It means a lot to both of us." He pulled her closer to him and she was about to reassure him that it was fine – that it was what friends were for – when he began again, in a whisper, "I'm not sure I could have got through it without you."

She snuggled further into his embrace, staying like that for a further ten minutes before she jumped up with a sudden burst of energy, not wanting to keep Tom from his son any longer. She held out a hand for him and pulled him to his feet. They walked to the front door, still hand in hand, collecting Tom's coat on the way. Butterflies invaded her stomach and, deciding to be brave; she leant towards him and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you for this evening; you didn't have to."

He shook his head "No, but I wanted to. Night, Nicki."

She smiled, watching him walk down her drive way and onto the street. Closing the door, she leant against it and sighed. She would never admit it to anyone but Tom Clarkson made her feel like one of the lovesick characters in the film they had watched and, she was even more reluctant to admit, she liked this feeling, a lot.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry it's taken me a while to post this update. I was so busy last week that writing completely slipped my mind. I'm still not sure about this chapter and I'm sure there are a few grammatical errors dotted throughout - sorry! I listened to Better Things by Passion Pit whilst writing this - you should all go and listen to it. Also, if you have any songs that remind you of Tom & Nicki leave them in a review or tweet them to me OhSarahxo :)

* * *

"No good can possibly come of this!" Tom huffed as the minibus shuddered to a halt.

Rolling her eyes at his sullen expression and fixing him with a pointed glare Nicki descended the steps of the vehicle. Admittedly the thought of spending the weekend in the middle of nowhere on a team building retreat with her colleagues didn't exactly fill her with joy but her innate sense of adventure had kicked in and she was ready to give anything the weekend had to offer her best effort. Part of her was hopeful that if they could all prove to Michael that they could work well together this weekend, he might reduce the number of early morning meetings he had been scheduling recently – she was sure that an extra hour of sleep would go a long way to lifting everyone's spirits in the morning.

There had been some grumbling from other members of staff regarding the excursion but Tom had far surpassed all of them in the grumpiness stakes. In fact, his constant complaints about the earliness of the hour, the long drive and his reservations about team building were something which she would have expected from Grantly, not him. Glancing at him as he reluctantly disembarked the minibus she was concerned; this was a side to him that she had never witnessed before and she wondered what was bothering him. Whatever was on his mind she hoped he would confine in her soon. She had been counting on him to make this trip bearable – usually he never failed to make her laugh with his teasing and sarcasm.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Michael calling for their attention.

"Right, find your assigned partner and assemble your tents. We'll reconvene back here in half an hour ready for our first activity!"

Grimacing at Michael's gleeful expression she made her way over to Tom, her 'assigned partner'. She admired her boss's enthusiasm, really she did, but she couldn't foresee this adventure ending well for him if he continued to address them like year seven students on their first trip away from home. Taking the tent pole that Tom was holding out to her she began to build their shelter.

"Is everything alright?"

The silence between them, a stark juxtaposition to the loud chatter and occasional laughter of their colleagues had become almost unbearable.

"It's fine!"

Redirecting her attention back to the tent she pondered over his snappy response. It upset her more than it, rationally, should have and she chided herself for feeling so hurt. In the several weeks that had passed since her birthday they had grown closer – of course she didn't expect him to tell her everything but, as he kept reminding her, they were friends and friends talked to each other when something was worrying them.

* * *

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of activity and thoughts of Tom and his hostile mood quickly slipped her mind. Evidently Michael had been serious about fitting as much into the weekend as possible – the afternoon had be spent competing in hiking, orienteering and canoeing challenges. Luckily her army experience had put her team, which consisted of Sian and Maggie, at an advantage – they had won two of the three challenges.

The momentary wave of relief she felt when Michael announced that they would be heading back to the campsite for the evening was swiftly replaced with dread as she realised that dinner would undoubtedly be something awful cooked over the camp fire and earlier in the day Janeece had insisted that they play Truth or Dare after they had eaten. Also, during the afternoon's activities it had been easy to forget about the tension between her and Tom but, sitting down in the circle that had formed around the fire, it began to niggle at her again.

Unfortunately, much to her disappointment, it turned out that her dread was justified. Tom's mood didn't show any signs of improving whilst they ate. He was keeping his distance from her and remained unusually quiet. Doing her utmost to ignore him she engaged in discussion with Sian and Maggie instead – celebrating their team victory.

"Truth or Dare time!" Janeece's sing song tone captured everyone's attention. "I thought we'd change things about a bit to make it more exciting so, instead of only being able to ask questions that can be answered with true or false we can ask anything."

There was a collective groan from the group.

Ten minutes into the game Grantly was shirtless, Matt was wearing lipstick and Sian had – very reluctantly – and only after reminding everyone that it was an incredibly inappropriate question, confessed that she found Tariq Siddiqui attractive.

"Truth or dare Nicki?"

She deliberated for a long moment, eventually choosing the former.

"Do you think Tom's attractive? Do you fancy him?" Janeece asked.

"That's two questions." She protested in an attempt to bide her time and avoid answering either.

Trust Janeece to think that this was an appropriate opportunity to put her matchmaking skills into practice. Realising all eyes were on her and she hadn't answered yet, she glanced in Tom's direction. He was doing his best to look uninterested but she could tell he was curious to hear her answer. Of course she found him attractive, he was ruggedly handsome, she didn't want to admit that to everyone though. They would laugh at her, make her feel embarrassed – a feeling she despised more than anything.

"No…" She began unconvincingly, then tried again with more force "No, I don't."

"No you don't think he's attractive or no you don't fancy him?" Janeece probed further.

"Both."

Her gaze flicked back to Tom. There was a murmuring of disbelief from her colleagues but she wasn't listening properly, more concerned about the dejected expression he now wore and the hurt that, even in the dim light of the camp fire, was evident in his eyes. He refused to meet her gaze and she felt a familiar feeling of guilt overcome her. Why couldn't she have admitted her feelings for him rather than lying and upsetting him in the process and why did it matter so much that their colleagues might laugh at her if she did – she knew they wouldn't intend it to be malicious or hurtful and, anyway, it wasn't like her to care so much about what other people might think.

Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse it was Tom's turn and he chose dare.

"I dare you to sleep with Nicki."

She began to choke on the sip of water she had just taken. Looking at Tom she noted his face had turned an interesting shade of red.

He began to protest but Janeece interrupted him.

"Relax, I don't mean sleep with her like _that_ I mean, sleep in the same sleeping bag tonight." She spoke slowly as if talking to a child.

She shrugged as he looked to her.

"Okay, fine." He agreed.

Janeece squealed and with a look of delight upon her face announced that she was sleepy and it was time for bed. The rest of the group nodded and began to make their way to their respective tents. The secretary marched purposefully over to Tom and Nicki's tent, grabbing one of the sleeping bags before leaving.

"I wouldn't want you to be tempted not to complete the dare!" She called over her shoulder before disappearing inside her own tent.

Nicki followed Tom inside, closing the zip behind her and turning to face him - he was already settled in the remaining sleeping bag. Sighing she slid in beside him and wriggled around to get comfortable. It really was far too small for two people.

"Stop wriggling." He protested as she turned onto her side, kicking him in the process.

"Shut up."

Her response sounded childish even to her own ears but she wasn't feeling particularly agreeable. After all, it was his fault that they were stuck in such a close proximity, he'd accepted the dare.

She had a feeling it was going to be a long night.


End file.
